Newsletter

Posted March 15, 2012 07:05 pm - Updated March 15, 2012 10:29 pm

Public-private parks worth serious look

Athens-Clarke County commissioners could take a first step in setting the county on a new and interesting course regarding recreational facilities and funding if they approve a request coming next month from Mayor Nancy Denson for a review of possibilities for public-private partnerships in developing small neighborhood parks.

Such small parks run directly counter to the county government’s Leisure Services Division’s new strategic plan, which calls for focusing on larger parks as a way of leveraging the department’s funding to serve significant numbers of citizens — particularly on the western side of the county, where park construction has lagged.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Leisure Services plan is misdirected, any more than it means that proposals for smaller parks developed with a mix of public and private resources should be dismissed because they might not necessarily align with that plan.

The interesting thing here is that both initiatives could move forward simultaneously and independently, thus ensuring a range of recreational options — from the relatively passive pursuits like tossing a Frisbee or walking a dog that could be accommodated in small parks, to the football, soccer or baseball facilities that could be included in larger parks — across the community.

And in fact, as reported in a Wednesday story in this newspaper, the Boulevard Neighborhood Association has been working on a project that could turn 2.3 acres of county-owned land on Barber Street into a community park.

The association is seeking permission from the county to raise as much as $50,000 in private funds to build trails, add a crosswalk and make other improvements to the county tract, turning it into a passive park.

Wisely, the county government wants to take a detailed look at the problems and opportunities for using county-owned land in this way, considering issues including the proximity of any given tract of county land to existing parks, and whether the land could be sold and put on the tax rolls to generate property taxes.

That’s the review that Mayor Denson is seeking, and as already noted, it represents a good first step in determining whether public-private partnerships make sense in developing neighborhood parks.

Here’s hoping that the requested review is approved by the commission, and here’s further hoping that the review does find that there are at least some places in the community where such a public-private approach can make sense and will be implemented.

At the very least, private investment in public recreational facilities will help ensure that those facilities will meet the expressed recreational needs of the surrounding neighborhood, and will also ensure that those facilities are well-maintained over time.